Butte Valley man, dog, share national acclaim in field competitions

BUTTE VALLEY &GT;&GT; With little more than a few whistle blasts and arm signals, Chris Hatch and his dog Saber are making a name for themselves in the record books.

Under the guidance of his owner, the 9-year-old black Labrador has been racking up ribbons his whole life but a recent award earns him "a place in retriever history." The dynamic duo recently returned from Texas, where they won the Purina Outstanding Amateur Retriever Award, recognizing Saber as one of the nation's top performing field trial retrievers.

"He's a very smart dog," Hatch said. "He figured this game out as a puppy. He's a real team player."

Saber has been part of the family since the Butte Valley resident and his wife, Portia, brought him home at 7 weeks old. They also own his mother, Ty, who is 15, Saber's son Dagger, who is 15 weeks old, and two other dogs.

Last year, the pair entered 22 amateur trials, placing in 13 and winning eight. They also competed in open trials, which professionals can enter, and Saber placed fifth among the top dogs in the country.

In each competition, the top five dogs receive points for placement and additional points for wins. Last year, Saber scored 47 amateur points. The record is 50 points, and the next highest dog behind Saber had 31 ?.

In a lifetime of competition, a good dog is considered one that earns 100 points. So far, Saber has accumulated 175 1/12.

Hatch would love for them to reach 200 and admits a dream is to make it into the Retriever Hall of Fame. He's still in awe of how well he and his canine companion have done in competition.

"He just kept winning. He had a year where everything came together," he said. "It's like the World Series in baseball — the top 100 dogs in the country come out and there's only one winner."

Hatch, an avid duck hunter, got his competitive start in hunting tests but grew to love the challenges of the field trials, the more competitive of the two retriever sports.

In a competition, Saber has to retrieve marks, where birds are visibly thrown or shot, or blinds, when birds or plastic bumpers are hidden and he finds with Hatch's wordless hand signals and whistle blows. The dogs are tested on water and in land, and often make multiple retrieves in a row, at distances in excess of 250 yards.

"It's the teamwork that gets you hooked," Hatch said. "It's you and the dog working together."

The State Farm Insurance agent and Durham Rotarian tries to train for 45 minutes nearly every day. Sometimes they go to DeGarmo Park in Chico and others they drive to Hightest Kennels south of Oroville — the largest field trial training facility in the Pacific Northwest, where 128 acres of former rice fields have been transformed into technical water ponds and sloughs of varying degrees of cover.

Hatch varies the sites so Saber doesn't get comfortable with the training.

"These dogs are so smart they memorize this stuff," he said. "It's like kids memorizing their times tables instead of solving problems."

On a recent morning at Hightest, Hatch tells Saber to "sit," and the dog obeys, eyes scanning the pond before him. At a quiet command, he splashes into the water and steadily paddles forward.

"He's just as excited about doing it now as he was when he was a puppy," Hatch said. "They just like to do their work."

When necessary, Hatch trills his whistle once and Saber turns to look at his trainer, who is dressed in white to be easily seen. He raises his right or left arm to indicate the desired direction and lowers it to indicate sharper turns.

Without a word from his owner, Saber paddles where told, leaving ripples in his wake and his ebony coat shimmering from the water.

"This dog is phenomenal," said Oroville resident Kristine Read, who watched in awe last week while waiting to work her own dog, a chocolate Lab named Houston.

"Saber knows a lot more than I do, I can tell you that much," Read added. "He's just balanced. He's a smooth operator."

"He's always been that way," Hatch said with a smile. "It's his nature."

As Saber paddles back, the orange bumper he found sticking out his mouth, he eagerly hands it off. Knowing a bird was next, he trembles with anticipation and plunges into the water at Hatch's instruction, loping over the grass berms and splashing back in.

The dog's inclination is to get the bird as quickly as possible, and land would likely be faster. But they are taught to take — and tested on — the most direct route, which can include long stretches of water and obstacles

With a gentle mouth, Saber returns the bird to Hatch. He waits, and with one last command to retrieve another bumper, paddles past nesting ducks with barely a second glance.

"Saber is a once-in-a-lifetime dog," said Hightest head trainer and kennel manager Ole Johnson, marveling at his discipline.

While Hatch is an amateur, he has the potential to go professional, and Saber's success must be equally credited to him, Johnson said.

"You can own the greatest horse in the world, but if the rider doesn't match, it doesn't work out," he said.

Hatch and Saber compete in a dozen trials a year, in four time zones. This October, they'll attend the nationals in Mississippi.

Hatch sees the field trials as a testament to the retriever breed. It celebrates their intelligence and athleticism, creates an opportunity to breed for better health, and taps into the dogs' natural instincts.

"That prey drive is in every retriever. When you take a little guy like this and see the potential you can have down the road, it's fun," he said, Saber's pup at his side.

Dagger is a leggy, bouncy Labrador with a love for water and no fear. After retrieving a small duck-shaped bumper, he splashed victory laps along the shoreline as Hatch offered plentiful praise.

With some hesitation, he decided to see if Dagger would show interest in a real bird. After some enticement, it caught his attention and when it was lobbed into the water, he bobbed after it, wiggling with pride as he returned it to his owner.

"It amazes you what they will do for you — because they are doing it for you," Hatch said. "At this age, it's for them, but when they are older, it's all for you."